A race weekend could not have run better for Lamborghini. The Lamborghini teams First Racing and Ruffier Racing claimed two pole positions and won both of the one-hour races. On Saturday a one-two in front of arch rival Ferrari was the result. Three of the five Lamborghini Gallardo present at Val de Vienne claimed the first three positions in first qualifying.
The FIA GT3 armada travelled to Dubai for the final round of the championship. The last two sixty-minute races were on the agenda at the circuit located in the desert. S.Berg Racing sent three Lamborghini Gallardo to the Middle East, including the Swiss professional racer Jean-Denis Deletraz, who steered a Gallardo together with his countryman Lloyd la Marca. La Marca and Deletraz also claimed the best Lamborghini positions with tenth and thirteenth in the two races.
No less than seven Lamborghini Gallardo GT3s (four of them as guest entries) were entered for the final race of the International GT Open at Barcelona. A total of 25 cars in the GTS category, including the competition from Ferrari, Dodge, Porsche, Aston Martin and Marcos, lined up at the start.
Three wins at Oran Park catapulted Bryce Washington in his Natrad Radiators & Auto Air Lamborghini Gallardo to the top of the Australian GT Championship standings. Even though Washington only started competing in the series at the second round with the GT3 Gallardo, he immediately proved to be the strongest competitor for Ferrari driver Allan Simonsen, who already had three wins to his credit at this time. However, this was of little concern to Bryce Washington who in fact started an impressive fight back. Every event saw Simonsen’s lead in the Ferrari melt a little more. Washington made such huge inroads into Simonsen’s lead that Ferrari elected to enter a second car against Washington from the fourth race weekend in Queensland onwards. The championship battle became a duel between Lamborghini and Ferrari!
Alceu Feldman and Paolo Bonifacio had a tough weekend. Both Feldman and Bonifacio qualified third quickest in qualifying and secured a good position to defend their championship lead from in the race in the process. Bonifacio quickly made up ground during the first half of the race and was within striking distance of the leader. Alceu Feldman took over the Lamborghini Gallardo and remained in second position. Unfortunately an engine failure prevented the duo from reaping the rewards of their excellent performance. Bonifacio / Feldman had to accept their first retirement of the season.
In spite of the stiff competition in the shape of DTM cars and faster GT1 and GT2 cars the S.Berg Gallardo with Urban / Urban / Charouz at the wheel was able to finish in eighth position and a place in the top-ten in the traditional 6-hour race in Brno.
The First Racing drivers aimed to finish the season on a high after having taken third place in qualifying. In the first race on Saturday there was only one outcome possible. One-two for the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 ahead of the archrivals from the Ferrari camp!
Even though Giacomo Piccini and Giovanni Berton had already clinched the championship in the GT3A Class with the MIK Corse Gallardo, the two Italians chose not to rest on their laurels during the final event of the season. Piccini took the GT3 pole position in first qualifying and an incredible fourth position overall. A great performance, particularly as the top-ten positions in the Italian GT Championship are normally occupied by the faster GT2 cars. They also shone in second qualifying by taking the class pole again and sixth fastest overall.
Sainz de Baranda and Antonio Torres lined up once again in the Spanish GT in their Gallardo GT3 at the final in Jerez. Torres qualified in nineteenth position in the large 30 car field. Unfortunately, de Baranda / Torres were unable to reap the benefits of their good qualifying performance as they retired in both races.
